My Professior is finicky. I have attempted to answer but want to make sure my thought process is aligned.

Read the scenario and respond to the checklist items in a thorough manner in a case analysis.

Scenario (fictional): James has been working as a salesperson for a technology company, Huntman Piccard over the past decade and is highly respected by his peers and is known for a high level of ethical behavior. Huntman Piccard is known for ethical business practices within the computer industry. Employee behavior is reviewed against a very high standard for code of conduct and continuous training is provided to insure employees keep the code of conduct top-of-mind when representing the company. The company expects employees, specifically salespeople, to interact ethically with the public and customers. Strict company codes of conduct help develop ethical cultures in which employees are expected to act in the best interest of others within the corporate network.

Over the past 10 years, James has always exceeded assigned quotas, earned large bonuses, and qualified to achieve multiple sales recognition programs. In his 11th year within his assigned territory, James had an unusual situation arise with a customer that created complications with both the customer's satisfaction with a purchased product, and with Huntman Piccard as a company.

Nearing the end of the year, James had already exceeded his quota and qualified for a bonus tied to his annual sales totals. Before the year ended, one of James' peers in the computer packaging industry, told him that one of the leading companies in the technology packaging industry was about to purchase a new computer system from one of James' competitors. James quickly contacted the potential customer and set up a meeting. Even though the owner of the company was ready to make a purchase, James was able to convince him to look at a proposal from Huntman Piccard before signing the purchase. Reviewing the competitive offering, James learned the price for the competitor's bid was $300,000, which was in line with the owner's budget. James was not pleased with this as he knows there is no product he can offer that falls within this price range. James still proceeded to review the company's systems to evaluate their computing needs. The results of his analysis resulted in a project to include several workstations and system servers. Multiple departments would be linked together for continuity of operations, networked for data, and included full printing capabilities. The system would need flexibility for a large growth potential, as mentioned by the owner's projections. Additionally, the entire system needed to be installed before the end of the year. James' concerns focused on the low budget, delivery timetable, and that no product within Huntman Piccard's portfolio that would meet the owners' needs.

As James was about to pass on the project customer, Huntman Piccard announced the release of a new computer processing system that seemed to meet all of the prospective customer's needs. The new system was compact and able to meet the present needs of the company, under the $300,000 budget, and be delivered/installed within two months meeting the owner's time schedule. James immediately put together a proposal for the client with the new compact system and included upgraded operating software with which the client was familiar. The new system met the present needs of the client perfectly, yet James knew the system was not scalable for rapid growth. Deciding to go ahead and present to the owner, James did not mention the product limitations on growth capabilities, as the product sufficiently met present client needs.

Results:

The proposal was a success and the owner immediately canceled talks with the competitor and placed an order with James for the new system. James left the customer feeling satisfied and excited about the higher bonus he would receive due to the sale. This sale represented an additional $30,000 in bonus commission for James.

The system was delivered, installed, and running by December. Then came the good and bad news. James' product was praised by the owner for satisfying their operational needs. Then, on January 1st, the owner contacted James to say his growth projections were off and the company wished to expand the system immediately with an additional two branch locations. James was in a panic as he knew the compact system would not allow for expansion as it was operating at maximum capacity. James thought the expansion would be further down the road a year or two and was gambling that future innovation would have allowed them to expand the system or allow him time to propose a new solution. The client called James to set up a meeting within a week to place the expansion order.

Questions:

What is James going to do? James faces the potential of a very disgruntled customer and his company has no tolerance for misleading customers. It will not be long before the customer realizes they purchased a system that will not meet their growth plans. James' company would consider such sales behavior as violating their code of conduct policies and his behavior would be grounds for employment termination.

Checklist:

Analyzing the case study for the major ethical and legal issues:

• Differentiate ethical actions.
  • Were James' action ethical? Explain why, or why not?
• Differentiate legal actions.
  • Were James' actions legal? Explain why or why not?
• Investigate ethical behavior.
  • Why might a normally ethical salesperson act in unethical ways?
  • What internal and external factors may be possible reasons leading to James' situation with the client.

Propose a resolution:

• Propose ethical actions to resolve the given situation.
  • Explain whether James should discuss the situation with his sales manager.
  • How should James approach the client to mitigate trust issues and what should he say?
  • What actions in chronological order, would you suggest James make?
  • Provide the rationale for your suggestions.